is a failure, he gave into obama. they want to hear him talk the talk. while he still has the rejectionists in hand in the lame duck caucus and while he has that donor class that wants to hear this conservative rhetoric, he's still got to play the game. behind the scenes i think republicans understand they're going to lose that top rate fight. they're going to lose that, and i wouldn't be surprised if they wound up putting the debt ceiling into the deal at the end, but up until the moment they make the deal, he's got to talk the talk. >> if i was only interested in right wing money and money at the top, i would say that's all true and, therefore, the faster they make a deal the better because if they're going to raise the rate anyway, get it over with. >> it would be better for the republicans if they make a deal now. >> boehner can make a better deal now. the question is whether anyone in the party will let him do that. >> thank you. we agree on almost everything except it is a cliff. coming up, seriously, haven't th